


the ocean is my cemetery

by ruiconteur



Series: begins as a lump in the throat [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, Drowning, Free Verse, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Poetry, kinda inspired by that one speech stiles gives in teen wolf actually, or studying for my test in two days, we love bad life decisions™
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25895911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruiconteur/pseuds/ruiconteur
Summary: what is a ripple effect to the vastness of the ocean?
Series: begins as a lump in the throat [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694134
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	the ocean is my cemetery

**Author's Note:**

> stiles stilinski: you know when you’re drowning you don’t actually inhale until right before you black out. it’s called voluntary apnea. it’s like no matter how much you’re freaking out, the instinct to not let any water in is so strong that you won’t open your mouth until you feel like your head’s exploding. then when you finally do let it in, that’s when it stops hurting. it’s not scary anymore, it’s… it’s actually kind of peaceful.
> 
> that’s it that’s the quote.
> 
> (also this was the unconscious result of my literature teacher emphasising the use of oral imagery in our set text for the past six months so you can all thank him for that)

they will tell you not to walk the beach in the mornings.  
the tide comes in during the night and leaves  
glistening seashells behind, row upon row of coral skulls  
knuckled into the wet sand.  
i have been told that the breeze  
blowing into the land will whisper  
across their ridged surfaces of secrets

sunk to the bottom of the ocean,  
wind-whipped and wave-lashed till foam  
is all that reminds. you have heard the  
screams bubbling out of the mouthpieces.  
we have lost far too many to the ocean’s mysteries  
than anyone cares to admit.

what is a ripple effect to the vastness of the ocean? no  
one sees the splash when something is dropped  
overboard, gulping displacements of water  
with each new body we let  
fall to the depths. water pries lips apart  
in a brutal devouring; oxygen is a fickle mistress  
who would rather save itself. we do not  
expect to be swallowed until  
the jaws open wide.

here, then, is the truth they keep  
bitten back behind their teeth:  
we could have prevented all of this.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [tumblr](https://ruiconteur.tumblr.com) or [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/ruiconteur/)!


End file.
